Wine of the Week: Otto Uve Gragnano

Ciao Tutti!

This weekend at Piazza Italian Market, we will taste the Otto Uve Gragnano Della Penisola Sorrentina Rosso Frizzante DOC ($21.50, 11.5% ABV) from the Salvatore Martusciello winery in Pozzuoli, a municipality of the City of Naples in Campania.

“Otto Uve” (Eight Grapes) is named for the number of grape varieties in this wine, including the best known Aglianico and Piedirosso grapes. Gragnano is considered to be the quintessential red wine of Naples and the idyllic pairing for authentic Neapolitan pizza.

Pozzuoli is the main city on the Phlegraean Peninsula, famous for its Campi Flegrei, the twenty four craters and volcanic structures beneath the Bay of Naples. The ancient Romans believed that the gaseous Solfatara crater was the gateway to the Underworld, the domain of Vulcan, the God of Fire. The area’s sandy soil that covers the volcanic rock protected the area’s vines in the late 19^th century when the disease phylloxera swept through Europe’s vineyards and decimated the grapes.

Salvatore Martusciello began working at his family’s Grotta del Sole vineyards and he soon became known for his dedication to preserving and extolling Campania’s indigenous grapes that had been almost forgotten. His dedication led to his becoming the champion of wines from the Campi Flegrei and Vesuvius. In 1991, he and his wife Gilda left his family’s estate to establish their own vineyard. Salvatore is a very hands-on winemaker and he even delivers wine to customers so he can explain to them the wine’s special characteristics that he loves so well!

Their Otto Uve Gragnano is not your traditional red wine. Slightly fizzy, best served chilled, fruit forward (cherry, strawberry), light tannins and balanced acidity. Pair with Piazza’s cured meat and cheese platters; fried foods, and my fave pairing, Accanto’s pizza -Otto Uve’s bubbles clean your palate from the richness of the cheese and its bright, tangy fruit is a perfetto match for the red sauce. Accanto’s pizza oven has been busy and the pizzas have become so popular that Emily is now offering them for carry out-place your order tomorrow and take home both a pizza and a bottle of Otto Uve!

If you have not yet tasted Otto Uve, come join me on Friday from noon to 5:45 or Saturday from noon to 4:45.

Cin Cin,

Jenn

Piazza Italian Market is located in the Talbot Town Shopping Center at 218 N. Washington St., suite 23, in Easton, MD

AI Disclosure: The Spy and its writers may use artificial intelligence tools to support accuracy and clarity in our reporting.

Contributor Jennifer Martella has pursued dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. She has reestablished her architectural practice for residential and commercial projects and is a real estate agent for Meredith Fine Properties. She especially enjoys using her architectural expertise to help buyers envision how they could modify a potential property. Her Italian heritage led her to Piazza Italian Market, where she hosts wine tastings every Friday and Saturday afternoons.